Living wage for staff will be a ‘problem’

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The new man at the helm of Horsecross Arts says the increase to the living wage will be a “very large” problem for the cash-strapped body.

From April 2020, the national living wage will increase by more than four times the rate of inflation, with over 25s seeing an increase from £8.21 to £8.72 an hour.

But Nick Williams, who took over as Horsecross chief executive in December, says while this is a financial problem, he would ultimately aspire to paying staff the voluntary real living wage, which is £9.30.

He told the PA: “It is our ambition to pay the real living wage and we are working towards this in a difficult financial climate.

“At present we pay the living wage regardless of age, without discriminating against younger people doing the same work as someone over 25.”

Mr Williams was appointed as chief executive of Horsecross, which is responsible for the operations of Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, shortly before the publication of an external audit which raised serious concerns over its governance and management.

The findings of the audit led to the mass resignation of most of the board just before Christmas and came just months after the council had to step in to help the organisation with its financial management.

Perth and Kinross Council has held monthly budget monitoring meetings with Horsecross since August 2019 with a verbal update being given to councillors at Wednesday’s (February 5) meeting of the scrutiny committee.

He said: “The huge increase in the living wage announced over Christmas will cause a very large problem for catering, front-of-house, housekeeping and box office teams.”

He said when you factor in the national insurance and pension contributions it is more like an increase of £1 than 50p.

As well as implementing the living wage to all workers regardless of age, Horsecross plans to scrap its use of zero hours contracts, which he says will benefit both staff and Horsecross, which will then know exactly what its cost base is.

Mr Williams was upbeat in his presentation and reported a “very successful Christmas” with 30,000 people coming through their doors.

He told the committee: “The week before Christmas every single thing was sold out in Perth Theatre and Perth Concert Hall.

“We are capable of drawing in the punter and making this work.”

The organisation is reducing its publication of brochures from three to two a year, giving the marketing team more breathing space to sell shows rather than working on the next brochure.

Five multi-day conferences have booked in, bringing knock-on revenue for the city.

And the “fantastic reputation” of Horsecross set-builders has been recognised, with them being asked to build two or three sets for the National Theatre of Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival.

There has been an upward trend in fundraising and there are plans afoot to sell off a vast number of costumes.

Perth and Kinross Council’s only Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey, had previously criticised Horsecross for its use of zero hour contracts.

After this week’s meeting, he said: “I welcome the news Horsecross is planning to scrap zero hours contracts and improve the pay and conditions for their catering, front-of-house and box office people.

“However, I am concerned the chief executive sees living wage rates as problematic but hopefully he’s referring to the problem of balancing the books and not objecting to paying workers a good rate of pay for a good day’s work.”